Machine for slitting welts



y 1935; A. J. BEFORb 2,002,486

MACHINE FOR SLITTING WELTS Filed Aug. 17, 1954 s Sheets-Sheet 1 wfiNEss v l INVENTOR Arffiur dfiefar z WW 1 BY ATTORN EY May 28, 1935.

A. .1. BEFORD MACHINE FOR SLITTING WELTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 17, 1934 lNvENToR A712 zzr cZBe/orci v w' ATTORNEY Patented May 28, 1935 UNITED STATES APATENTI'OFFICE MACHINE For: SLITTING 'WELTS I A hui J. Beford, Littlestown, Pa. Application August 17 1534, Serial No. 740,303

' p 3 Claims (01.164 49) This invention relates to ail-apparatus for slit- Anobject of the invention is the provision of a device for slitting welts in which a plurality of tracksare provided at opposite sides of a housing for receiving and guiding the welts into a reciproeating knife with means adjacent the knives for moving the welts at a predetermined rate along the path of the reciprocating knives so that the weltsv will be slit at regular intervals along one edge. l

A'further object of the invention is'the provision of a welt-slitting apparatus .in which a plurality of welts may be operated upon simul- Y taneously .with means for moving the welts through tracks at a predetermined speed while a plurality of knives are operated in synchronism with the movement of .thewelts. i

This invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description, in view of the accompanying drawings forminga part of the specification; nevertheless, it is to be understood that the invention is not confined to the disclosure, being, susceptible of such changes and modifications as define no material departure from the salient features of. the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

l Figure l is a side view in elevation" of a weltslitting apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of my invention,

Figure 2 is a plan view of thesame.

. Figure 3 is a horizontal section of the apparatus, c

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical section taken along the line i4 of Figure 3, t

Figure 5 is a section througha guide taken alongthe line 5-5 of Figure l, and

Figure 6 is a transverse vertical sectiontaken along the line 6-45 of Figure 1. V

Figures 7 and 8 are detail views.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I designates a housing having a removable cover plate I I, side walls I2 and I3 and end walls I4 and I 5. The walls are supported from a bottom portion I6.

The intermediate portion of the end wall I is cut awayto provide an open chamber I! in which are mounted pulleys I8 and I9. This chamber is partially enclosed by walls 20 and 2I and thewall I2. The bottom is shown at 22.

A shaft 23 is mounted in bearings '24 formed on the walls I2 and I3 and has secured thereto the pulley IS. The pulley I8- is loose on the shaft. A belt (not shown) is adapted to, be nor:

mally disposed on the pulley I8 when the.,ma-' chine is in an inoperative condition.

'agear 45 secured to a shaft il.

it can be moved from the pulley I8 to the pulley I9 and vice versa. A handle 28 projects upwardly from the slide 26 so that the slide may be manually reciprocated. A pin 2% is secured to the slide and is adapted-to engage the guide 2? to limit the inward movement of said slide. A pin 30 is secured to the outer end of the slide and is adapted to engage the guide El for properly positioning the yoke 25 relative to the pulley if).

A gear Si is secured to the shaft 23 and meshes with a' gear 32 rigid with a countershaft 33. This shaft is mounted in bearin 'sdt carried by the side wall I3. A bearing 35 also receives the shaft 33 and is supported by an arm connected with a bracket 36 whichcarries a bearing 34.

A worm 3'5 is formed on the end of the shaft 33 and meshes with a worm gear 38. A shaft 38 carried by a bearing 3% is. made rigid with the worm gear 38. The worm gear is mounted within a housing 41 which is adapted to contain a lubricant.-

A beveled gear 22 is secured to the end of the shaft 39 and meshes with a geared secured to a shaft 54. This shaft is mounted in bearings carried by the sidewalls i2 and 93.

' A-gear 453 secured to the shaft 4 meshes with This shaft is mounted in sliding bearings 1-8 which are carried by'guides 39 secured to the side walls i3 and I 4. A spring 56 having one end secured at 55 to the side walls is adapted to have its opposite end 52 pressing against the bearing 68 for maintaining the gears 65 and 35 in mesh and for a purpose which will be presently explained.

The shaft 23 extends through the side walls I2 and I3 and on these projecting ends are secured eccentrics 53 which are revolved by said shaft, An'eccentric strap 5''; embraces the eccentric 53. The outer ends of. the straps are bolted together, as shown at 55. 'Ihe inner ends of the straps are combined into a cross head 56.

A reciprocating member generally designated by the numeral 6% is pivotally connected to the cross head, as shown at 6|. This reciprocating member extends downwardly at an angle and it will be noted that there is a reciprocating member 'at each side of the housing and a description of one reciprocating member and its associated mechanism will be sufiicient. A guide is. provided for the reciprocating member and consists of. a plate 62 which is bolted at 63 to a side wall and has a cut-out portion 63 adapted to receive the reciprocating member or cross head 66. The cut-out portion provides a pair of parallel flanges 64 and 65.

An adjusting plateEE is carried by screws 61 which are retained in place by nuts 68. These screws or bolts pass through the flange 64 and engage the outer face of the plate 66.. The inner face of the plate is in engagement with the upper edge of the cross head 60.

A bar 6% is secured at 19 to the outer edge of the flange 65. A bar ll is secured at 12 to the outer edge of the flange B l so that the inner edges of these bars will engage the outer face of the cross head ESE] and maintain said cross head in position during reciprocation.

The lower end of the cross head is provided with a block 13 having a knife 14 secured to its underface. A block 15 is bolted at 76 to the block 13 and has secured to its underface a knife ll. Securing plates l8 may be employed upon the outer faces of the knives through which bolts 19 are passed and threaded into openings in the respective blocks. The knives have openings or slots to receive the bolts Iii.

The shaft M- has its ends projecting through the side walls i2 and I3 and has secured thereon a toothed pulley 8i] and a pulley is located outwardly of each side wall and adjacent the lower edge of the knives it and H. A smooth-face pulley BI is secured to each outer projecting end of the shaftc tl and is adapted to be locatedin close association with the pulley 85 so that as the welts are fed between the pulleys the revolving pulleys will move the welts at a predetermined speed in synchronism with the reciprocating knives i i and H in order to slit the welt diagonally across the inner edge at predetermined spaced intervals.

A pair of tracks 82 and B3 are formed by plates 38 and longitudinally disposed partitions B5 and the plates 85; are secured to the side walls l2 and 13 of the housing. The partition 85 is cut away as shown at 86 to receive the extreme lower end 8'! of the flange $5 on the supporting plate 62. It will be noted that the knives M and El are located upon opposite sides of the partition 85. The plate 84 is supported by brackets 88.

The plate 84 is provided with notches 9B adapted to receive the cutting edges of the knives 14 and Ti as shown in Fig. l and at the downward limit of movement of said blades. In other words, when the knife cuts through the beveled edge 9| of the welts 92 to form slits 93 it must pass entirely through the welts and the notches are of sufiicient depth to receive the knives without permitting the knife edges to engage the walls of the notch.

A guide member, generally designated by the numeral 95, has outwardly bent flanges 96 adjacent one end of the plate 84 to receive and guide the welts in the tracks 82 and 83 and maintain the welts 92 in alignment with the knives. These tracks are connected together by means of a yoke Bl.

The adjusting plate 66 is shown more particularly in Fig. l and is provided with upturned flanges St in engagement with theouter ends of the flange @fi for aiding in guiding the plate in its movement towards or away from theslide or reciprocating member 58.

The operation of my device is as follows: It will be noted that at each side wall l2 or I? is mounted a reciprocating member carrying pairs of knives for slitting the welts and the weltsare fed in through a pair of tracks to the knives and are pulled along at a predetermined speed by the cooperatively-associated rollers 89 and 8| at each side of the housing. When the'pulley I9 is driven by the shifting of the belt from the pulley [8 to the pulley IS, the shaft 23 is revolved, causing the eccentrics 53 to reciprocate the slide 60 and to cause reciprocation of the knives through the welts 92 as they are fed along the tracks 82 and 83 and are pulled forwardly at a predetermined speed by the wheels 80 and 8|. The springpressed bearings 48 for the shaft i! permit the wheels 8| to be elevated or lowered, depending upon the thickness of the welts.

Means (not shown) is provided for lubricating the various moving parts.

, By the'proper slitting of the welts and at a predetermined angle these welts may be curved around the sole and sewed thereto, thereby eliminating bulging portions which will occur when the plain welts are secured in position on the soles.

I-claim:

1AA welt-slitting machine comprising a housing, an inclined guideway supported at each side of the housing, said guideway including a plate having spaced laterally projecting flanges, an adjusting plate associated with one flange, means carried by said flange for causing adjustment of the plate, a slide in the form of an elongated bar mounted for reciprocation between the plate and the other flange, a bar secured to the outer edge of each flange and engaging the slide, knives secured tothe lower end of the slide, means for causing reciprocation of the slide, rollers located in spaced relation adjacent the knives and tracks associated with the rollers for guiding the welts beneath the knives, said rollers adapted to pull the welts along the tracks.

2. A welt-slitting machine comprising a housing, an inclined guideway supported at each side of the housing, said guideway including a plate havingispaced laterally projecting flanges, an adjusting plate associated with one flange, means carried by said flange for causing adjustment of l the plate, a slide in the form of an elongated bar mounted for reciprocation between the plate and the other flange, a bar secured to the outer edge of each flange and engaging the slide, knives secured to the lower end of the slide, means for causing reciprocation of the slide, roller means for feeding the welts beneath the knives, and means operatively connected with the reciprocating means for causing rotation of the rollers in timed relation with the reciprocation of the knives.

3. A welt-slitting machine comprising a housing, an inclined guideway supported at each side of the housing, said guideway including a plate having spaced laterally projecting flanges, an adjusting plate associated with one flange, means carried by said flange for causing adjustment of the plate, a slide in the form of an elongated bar mounted for reciprocation-between the plate and the other flange, abar secured to the outer edge of each flange and engaging the slide, knives secured to the lower end of the slide, means for causing reciprocation of the slide, roller means for feeding the welts beneath the knives, means operatively connected with the reciprocating means for causing rotation of the rollers in timed relation with the reciprocation of the knives, means for loosely mounting one of the rollers, and means for urging said roller towards the associated roller.

' ARTHUR, JBEFORD. 

